Basket construction



Sept. 12, 1933. w NEWHOUSE 1,926,785

BASKET CONSTRUCTION Filed May 29, 1951 1210a 77107 alferF/Vezwimwa Patented sea. 1.2,.v inst umrsosrars s rarer BASKET CONSTRUCTION WalteriF; Newhouse, Benton Harbor, Michr Application Maize, 1931." Serial No. 540,903 1 claim} 101. '2i7 12s This invention relates t o bus helqor half-bushel baskets, or baskets of similar character, and to the method of manufacturethereof. More-particularly, ,the invention relates to basketsof this kind in which the side walls andthebottom are formed of scored or bent staves that extend. down one side of the basket and across the botstaves, by using instrumentalities adapted to con-/ vert the'mat into basket form, and whereby the basket, when finished, is provided with inside and outside bottom hoops,thereby to provide a strong bottom construction for the basket. f

3 It is also anobject toprovide certain details and features of construction tending to increase the general efiiciency and the desirability of a so-called straight side basket of this particular character. a

To the foregoing and other useful ends, the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed andshown in the accompanying drawing, in which- 7 Fig. 1 is a perspective of a basket embodying the principles of the invention; n

Fig. 2 is a vertical section, on a larger scale, of the lower or bottom portion of said basket;

Fig. 3 is a plan of the, flat mat from which the side walls and the bottom wall of the basket are formed;

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view, on a larger scale, of a portion of the bottom of the basket, showing another form of the invention As thus illustrated, the invention comprises a round, flat mat formed of stavesarranged radially and crosswise at the center of the mat, as shown in Fig. 3, these staves having end portions 1 and middle portions 2, as shown. Preferably, a staple 3 is inserted through thecenter of the mat to hold the staves in their properrelative positions. 1

Suitable instrumentalities, such as the. basket machines employed for this purpose, will form the mat into basket form, so that the portions 59 1 will form the side walls of the basket, while the portions 2 will form the bottom walls of the basket, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. It will be seen that the bottom is necessarily thicker at the center where the staves cross each other. 55 than it is at the outer edges thereof. At the time when the flat mat is formed or shapedinto basket form,-an inside; hoop,4 is arranged in position to have the staves folded thereon, and'an outside hoop-5, is then'stapled inplace, the'staples 6 being driven from the outside through both hoops so and through the portions 2 of the staves. If desired, as shown, the saidhoops can be of such diameter that the bottom will be held in position with its lower side more or less concave, while its upper side will be more or less convex, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. The two hoops can be of the same width, but as a matter of further special improvement, the inner hoop 4 may be of less width than the outer hoop 5, whereby the lower edge of the latter will rest .on the floor and take the weight'and take the scoring or breaking, and the increased width of staves are more securely attached and held against the outside bottom hoop. Also, if the lower edge of the outside hoop is lower than the lower edge of the inside hoop, the lower edge of the outside hoop will take the weightand take the wear when the basket is moved around on the fioor. Again, with the inside bottom hoop, as well as' the outside bottom hoop, in a basket of this kind, the radial or bursting strain is sustained very-largely by the inside hoop, and is not imposed entirely on the outside hoop. It will also be seen that the provision of the inside hoop is advantageous in the making of the basket Without this hoop, the inner ends of the staples will be clinched on the inner sides of the staves, in which latter the grain of the wood extends longitudinally. Ordinarily, hoops of this f kind are made of somewhat thicker and tougher, or less brittle, material than the wood veneer employed for the staves, and hence the ends of v the staples are more advantageously clinched on Q FI EQ -i the inner surface of the inside hoop, than on the inner surface of the staves, for in this way the clinchingis done without danger of splitting the staves, as the points of the staples are not bent back into the staves, but are simply clinched upon the inner surface of the inside hoop.

It will also be seen that the inside hoop protects the staves against curling immediately above the bottom, and against breakage at the points where they are secured, or where they are bent or broken, depending upon the method used in making and shaping the staves. In addition, the inside bottom hoop tends to prevent breakage of the staves during the bending thereof at '7 or 10, in the operation of making the basket,

and during the stapling operation, as this inside bottom hoop tends to protect the staves against breakage that is liable to occur, in the stapling of the basket, when no inside bottom hoop is employed, whereby the side wall structure immediately above the bottom is rendered stronger, and whereby both annular hoops thus disposed around the bottom tend to maintain the upward bulge thereof. In fact, the basket has a double hoop top rim and also a double hoop bottom rim.

What I'claim as my invention is:

A downwardly tapered basket having side walls and a bottom wall having an upward bulge, composed of staves each extending integrally down one side of the basket and across the bottom and up the other side thereof, having an outside annular bottom hoop adjacent the bottom wall, and an inside'annular bottom hoop secured concentrically to said outside bottom hoop, with the side walls between the two hoops, both of said hoops and the center of the bottom being in the same horizontal plane, each stave extending downwardly at opposite sides between the two hoops and then under the lower edge of the in sidebottom hoop and across the bottom, and staples to secure the two hoops together and to the side walls, clinched on the inner surface of the inside hoop, whereby in effect the bottom has an upturned annular rim formed by the two hoops, and whereby both hoops thus disposed around the bottom tend to maintain said upward budge thereof.

WALTER F. NEWI-IOUSE. 

